'World Cup selection' - Justin Langer gives bizarre reason behind LSG's poor IPL 2024 campaign

Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer has explained why things went wrong for the franchise despite a positive start to their IPL 2024 campaign.

The Super Giants, led by KL Rahul, played their last game of the season yesterday against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium. Justin Langer's men might not be able to finish in the top 4 but they surely closed off their campaign in the best way possible - by winning the game.

This was the first time since their introduction to the Indian Premier League in 2022 that LSG didn't secure a top-four finish. In both of the previous seasons, Lucknow had finished 4th but they didn't make it to the final even once. They had an entirely new coaching staff in place led by Justin Langer but despite their best efforts, all they managed was a number 7 finish.

What did Justin Langer say?

While speaking to the media reporters last night in Mumbai, Justin Langer blamed the ICC T20 World Cup squad selection hindered their own process. All the talks around the player selections and squad compositions led the players into thinking they needed to score in every single match and that became a primary reason for LSG's downfall after a good start.

Justin Langer admitted that the Super Giants played very well in the month of April but the way they carried themselves in the second half was disappointing. Langer also claimed that injury played a part in the team's finish outside of the top 4.

"Since the World Cup selection, things seemed to change a little bit. We had a couple of poor games and it really cost us. We played really good cricket through April, but we fell away. It's been disappointing. We had a very good team, we missed a few bowlers due to injuries and that made difference," Langer told media reporters in Mumbai.

Langer makes special praise for KL Rahul

Justin Langer then went on to say a few things about LSG captain KL Rahul and the things he should improve moving forward. Langer observed that Rahul had scored a few good 30s and 40s in some matches but he didn't capitalize on those starts by finding fielders on the fence.

But overall, the former Australia head coach claimed that KL Rahul is a very good player as well as a person. About the criticism Rahul had to face, Langer claimed that everyone has their own way of carrying things out and lastly backed him to evolve his game with the changing times.

"One area KL Rahul would like to improve is that he got some really good 30s and 40s, and then found someone on the boundary. I think he is a really good player, a really good person. I have heard the criticism, but understand that everyone does it differently. If you play at a strike-rate of 160s throughout, that is very high risk cricket. The game is evolving, I think he will evolve as a player as well," Langer concluded.